Our Templar Knight Ancestors

Our Templar Knight Ancestors
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Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem

Order Supremus Militaris Hierosolymitani

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Lineage from

Earl William Marshal
  Isabel de Clare

Earl William de Warren
  Maud Marshal

Earl John de Warren
  Alice le Brun

Baron Henry Percy
  Alianore Plantagenet
   de Warren

Baron Henry de Percy
  Eleanor de Arundel

Baron Henry de Percy
  Idoine de Clifford

Lord Henry de Percy
  Mary Plantagenet

Henry Percy
  Margaret de Neville

Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy
  Elizabeth Mortimer

Earl Henry Percy
  Eleanor de Neville

Sir Henry Percy
  Eleanor Poynings

Sir William Gascoigne
  Margaret Percy

Sir George Talboys
  Elizabeth Gascoigne

Sir Edward Dymoke
  Anne Talboys

Sir Thomas Windebank
  Frances Dymoke

Lt. Col. Robert Reade
  Mildred Windebank

Lt. Col. George Reade
  Elizabeth Martiau

Col. Augustine Warner II
  Mildred Reade

Col. John Lewis II
  Elizabeth Warner

Col. Nicholas Lewis
  Mary (Capt. Molly) Walker

Lt. Hudson Martin
  Jane Walker Lewis

Thurston Dickinson
  Mary Walker Martin

John D. Duggins
  Frances Elizabeth Dickinson

James Henry Smith
  Elizabeth Marshall Duggins

Peter Christen Jensen
  Laura Ann Smith

Wilhelm August Heineman
  Lucile Marguerite Jensen

Peter Edward Heineman
  Doris Jean Crum

Dr. Peter Lea Heineman

Statue of Earl William Marshall behind the Royal Throne in the House of Lords, holding a copy of Magna Carta

Effigy of Earl William Marshall in Temple Church

Lineage from

Sir Hugh de Morwick, III
  Agnes de Heyford

Sir John de Bulmer, III
   Theophania de Morwick

Sir John Constable
  Albreda de Bulmer

Sir John Constable
  Maud de Hilton

Sir William Constable
  Elizabeth Metham

Sir John Constable
  Margaret Umfreville

Sir John Constable
  Lora FitzHugh

Sir William Mallory
  Joan Constable

Sir John Mallory
  Margaret Thwaites

Sir William Mallory
  Johanna "Jane" Norton

Sir William Mallory
  Joan Constable

Rev. Thomas Mallory
  Elizabeth Vaughn

Rev. Thomas Mallory
  Unknown

Capt. Roger Mallory
  Unknown

Thomas Mallory
  Elizabeth Higgason

John Mallory, Sr.
  Anne Coyne

John Mallory, Jr.
  Grace Smith

Henry Mallory
  Lucy (Chandler) Long

Tartan Smith
  Lucy Mallory

James Henry Smith
  Elizabeth Marshall Duggins

Wilhelm August Heineman
  Lucile Marguerite Jensen

Peter Edward Heineman
  Doris Jean Crum

Lineage from
Dr. Thomas Walker

Dr. Thomas Walker
m. Mildred Meriwether

Mary Walker
m. Col. Nicholas Lewis

Jane Walker Lewis
m. Hudson Martin

Mary Walker Martin
m. Thurston Dickinson

Frances Elizabeth Dickinson
m. John Duggins

Elizabeth Marshall Duggins
m. James Henry Smith

Laura Ann Smith
m. Peter Christian Jensen

Lucile Marguerite Jensen
m. Wilhelm A.  Heineman

Peter E. Heineman
m. Doris J. Crum

Peter L. Heineman

Lineage from
Lt. Hudson Martin

Lt. Hudson Martin
m. Jane Walker Lewis

Mary Walker Martin
m. Thurston Dickinson

Frances Elizabeth Dickinson
m. John Duggins

Elizabeth Marshall Duggins
m. James Henry Smith

Laura Ann Smith
m. Peter Christian Jensen

Lucile Marguerite Jensen
m. Wilhelm A.  Heineman

Peter E. Heineman
m. Doris J. Crum

Peter L. Heineman

Lineage from
Pvt. William T. Duggins 

William T. Duggins
m. Elizabeth Perkins

John Duggins
m. Frances E. Dickinson

Elizabeth Marshall Duggins
m. James Henry Smith

Laura Ann Smith
m. Peter Christian Jensen

Lucile Marguerite Jensen
m. Wilhelm A.  Heineman

Peter E. Heineman
m. Doris J. Crum

Peter L. Heineman

Since the early 8th century Christian Europe had been under attack from Islamic forces.  By the 10th century most of the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and southern Italy had fallen under Muslim control.  Rome itself was besieged by a Saracen force.  With Constantinople under threat, the Byzantine Emperor appealed to the Pope for aid.  Urban II seized the opportunity and called for the First Crusade in 1095, directing it against the Turks.  The goal was to save the Byzantine Empire and to recover the Holy Land.

By the end of July 1099, the First Crusade had achieved its final objective: the capture of Jerusalem.  The Holy Land quickly fragmented into feudal states, with the King of Jerusalem possessing only a vague suzerainty.  An immediate problem was the lack of a reliable fighting force to defend against Islamic reaction; most of the crusaders had returned home.  The Knights Templar would provide a solution by becoming a standing army dedicated to the defense of Christian interests in the Holy Land.

A more immediate threat was to the large number of pilgrims and travelers arriving from Europe.  Roving Bandits and Saracens attacked them as they traveled from the port of Jaffa to Jerusalem, and on to the Jordan River where Christ was baptized.

Two knights—Hugues de Payens and Geoffrey de Saint-Omer—saw the need.  They recruited fellow knights and offered their service to protect pilgrims and travelers.  Impressed with their zeal, King Baldwin II offered them part of his residence, the al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount, the site of Solomon’s Temple.

These first Templars, living on Temple Mount and fulfilling their religious duties at the Temple of Christ, called themselves “The Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon”.

In 1127 with the approval from the King of Jerusalem, Hugues de Payens with several of his brothers toured Western Europe to recruit members. Bernard, the influential Cistercian Abbot of Clairvaux, recognized in them the potential for a permanent force to defend the Holy Land. In 1129 at the Council of Troyes, the Order of the Temple was recognized and provided with a Rule, "Specific Behavior for the Templar Order” – or Latin Rule—based on the Benedictine/Cistercian model.

The Templars adopted the white mantle of the Cistercians symbolizing simplicity and purity of life.  Hugues de Payens became the first Master of the Temple.

The first soldier-monks had arrived—the Knights Templar.

While our family had a number of ancestors who fought in the Crusades, only two are known to have been Templar Knights – Earl William Marshall and Sir Hugh de Morwick. Here are their profiles.

As a younger son of a minor nobleman, William had no lands or fortune to inherit, and had to make his own way in life. As a youth he was sent to Normandy to serve in the household of William de Tancarville, where he began his training to become a knight. Through William de Tancarville, he then served in the household of his mother's brother, Patrick, Earl of Salisbury. In 1168 William's uncle was killed in an ambush by Guy of Lusignan. William was injured and captured in the same battle, but was ransomed by Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was apparently impressed by tales of his bravery. He had been knighted in 1167 and soon found he could make a good living out of winning tournaments. At that time tournaments were dangerous, often deadly, staged battles, not the jousting contests that would come later, and money and valuable prizes could be won by capturing and ransoming opponents. His record is legendary: he supposedly fought in 500 such bouts in his life and never lost once.

By 1170 his stature had risen so far that he was appointed tutor in chivalry for Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England. The Young King's relations with his father were always fractious, and William stood by Henry during the Revolt of 1173–1174, during which he knighted the Young King. However, in 1182 William Marshal was accused of undue familiarity with Marguerite of France, the Young King's wife, and was exiled from court. He went to the court of Henry II that Christmas to ask for trial by combat to prove his innocence, but was refused. A few months later the Young King died, and on his deathbed he asked William to fulfill his vow of going on a Crusade. William did so, crusading in the Holy Land from 1183 to 1186; while there he vowed to be buried as a Knight Templar.

In August 1189, when he was 43, King Richard arranged for him to marry the second-richest heiress in England, Isabel de Clare (1172-1240), the 17-year-old daughter of Strongbow. Her father had been Earl of Pembroke, and this title was granted to William, along with large estates in England, Wales, Normandy and Ireland.

Isabel was born in 1172, the eldest child of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (1130 – 20 April 1176, known in history as Strongbow and Aoife of Leinster, the daughter of Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster and More O'Toole. The latter was a daughter of Muitchertach O'Toole and Cacht ingen Loigsig O'Morda. The marriage of Strongbow and Aoife took place in August 1170, the day after the capture of Waterford by the Cambro-Norman forces led by Strongbow, and abetted by Dermot MacMurrough.

Isabel's paternal grandparents were Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Isabella de Meulan. She had a younger brother Gilbert de Striguil, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, who died at the age of 12. She also had an illegitimate half-sister Basile de Clare, who married three times. Basile's husbands were: Robert de Quincy; Raymond Fitzgerald, Constable of Leinster: Geoffrey FitzRobert, Baron of Kells.

Isabel was described as pleasant, gentle, and extremely attractive. After her brother Gilbert's death in 1185, she became one of the wealthiest heiresses in the kingdom, owning besides the titles of Pembroke and Striguil,suo jure, much land in Wales and Ireland. She inherited the numerous castles on the inlet of Milford Haven, guarding the South Channel, including Pembroke Castle. She was a ward of King Henry II.

The marriage was happy, despite the vast difference in age between them.  The marriage transformed the landless knight from a minor family into one of the richest men in the kingdom, a sign of his power and prestige at court. William made numerous improvements to his wife's lands, including extensive additions to Pembroke Castle and Chepstow Castle.

William was included in the council of regency which the King appointed on his departure for the Third Crusade in 1190. He took the side of Prince John when the latter expelled the justiciar, William Longchamp, from the kingdom, but he soon discovered that the interests of John were different from those of Richard. Hence in 1193 he joined with the loyalists in making war upon the prince. Richard forgave Marshal his first error of judgement, and allowed him to succeed his brother, John Marshal, in the hereditary marshalship, and on his death-bed designated him as custodian of Rouen and of the royal treasure during the interregnum.

William supported King John when he became king in 1199, but they had a falling out when William paid homage to King Philip II of France for his Norman lands. William left for Leinster in 1207 and stayed in Ireland until 1212, during which time he had Carlow Castle erected. In 1212 he was summoned to fight in the Welsh wars. Despite these differences, it was William on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede who dealt with the barons who made King John agree to the Magna Carta, and he was one of the few English noblemen to remain loyal to the royal side through the First Barons' War. It was William whom King John trusted on his deathbed to make sure John's nine-year-old son Henry would get the throne.

King's army, leading them to victory. He was preparing to besiege Louis in London when the war was terminated by the naval victory of Hubert de Burgh in the straits of Dover. He was criticized for the generosity of the terms he accorded to Louis and the rebels in September 1217; but his desire for an expeditious settlement was dictated by sound statesmanship. Self-restraint and compromise were the key-notes of Marshals policy, hoping to secure peace and stability for his young liege. Both before and after the peace of 1217 he reissued Magna Carta, in which he is a signatory as one of the witnessing barons. Without his presence England might not have survived the disastrous reign of John; where the French and the rebels would not trust the English king's word, they would trust William.

William Marshal's health finally failed him in February 1219. In March 1219 he realized that he was dying, so he summoned his eldest son, also William, and his household knights, and left the Tower of London for his estate at Caversham in Oxfordshire, near Reading, where he called a meeting of the barons, Henry III, the papal legate, the royal justiciar (Hubert de Burgh), and Peter des Roches (Bishop of Winchester and the young King's guardian). William rejected the Bishop's claim to the regency and entrusted the regency to the care of the papal legate; he apparently did not trust the Bishop or any of the other magnates that he had gathered to this meeting. Fulfilling the vow he had made while on crusade, he was invested into the order of the Knights Templar on his deathbed. He died on 14 May 1219 at Caversham, and was buried in the Temple Church in London, where his effigy can still be seen.

William Marshal appears in two romance novels by Marsha Canham: In the Shadow of Midnight and The Last Arrow. William appears (named only as the Earl of Pembroke) in William Shakespeare's historical play King John and is a central character in the traditional English ballad "Queen Elanor's Confession" (Child 156), in which he is (fictitiously) revealed to have seduced Eleanor of Aquitaine while escorting her to England. Four generations of the Marshal family, from Isabel de Clare's parents through William fitzWilliam's fictitious bastard son, are the subjects of a series of four historical romances by Mary Pershall. Dawn of the White Rose (1985) is the one about William Marshal and Isabel de Clare. William Marshal appears in four of the books authored by Jean Plaidy on the Plantagenet Kings: The Revolt of the Eaglets (where he fights for Henry II), The Heart of the Lion (his relation with Richard Coeur de Lion), The Black Prince (his relation with King John Lackland) and The War of the Queens (in his role as regent of Henry III). His daughter Isabella also appears in the next book of the Saga, The Queen from Provence, as Richard of Cornwall's first wife…and numerous more cultural references.

The Office of Marshal, now Earl-Marshal still exists, and still holds responsibility for Royal Funerals. The present Earl Marshal is the Duke of Norfolk.

You can see his great castles such as Carlow Castle in Ireland, and Pembroke Castle with its great tower and Chepstow Castle in Wales.

Temple Church - London
Temple Church in the City of London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, was built by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. In the mid-12th century, before the construction of the church, the Knights Templar in London had met at a site in High Holborn in a structure originally established by Hugues de Payens (the site had been historically the location of a Roman temple in Londinium, now known as London).

Because of the rapid growth of the Order, by the 1160s the site had become too confined, and the Order purchased the current site for the establishment of a larger monastic complex as their headquarters in England. King Henry II, gifted land close to the River Thames to the Order of the Knights Templar.

After the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 by the Crusaders, the Dome of the Rock was given to the Augustinians, who turned it into a church (while the Al-Aqsa Mosque became a royal palace). Because the Dome of the Rock was the site of the Temple of Solomon, the Knights Templar set up their headquarters in the Al-Aqsa Mosque adjacent to the Dome for much of the 12th century. The Templum Domini, as they called the Dome of the Rock, along with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre upon which it was based soon became the architectural model for Round Templar churches across Europe. In a twist of fate, that church may originally have been a temple to Aphrodite in the second century.

The church building comprises two separate sections: The original circular church building, called the Round Church and now acting as a nave, and a later rectangular section adjoining on the east side, built approximately half a century later, forming the chancel. The Round Church is 55 feet in diameter, and contains within it a circle of the earliest known surviving free-standing Purbeck Marble columns. It is probable that the walls and grotesque heads were originally painted in colors. Work on the London headquarters of the Knights Templar began in the 1160s. It was consecrated at Candlemas in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary on February 10, 1185 by Heraclius, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem - later re-dedicated in 1240 when the new chancel was built. It is believed that King Henry II (1154–1189) was present at the consecration. The church was originally part of a large monastic compound that included residences, military training facilities, and recreational grounds for the military brethren and novices, who were not permitted to go into the city without the permission of the Master of the Temple. The original church had a small choir, but this was greatly enlarged in the early 1200s when King Henry III expressed a wish to be buried there. The new chancel was consecrated on Ascension Day 1240. However, when Henry's will was read upon his death in 1272, it was discovered he had changed his mind and wanted to be buried in Westminster Abbey instead. The Knights Templar order was very powerful in England, with the Master of the Temple sitting in parliament as primus baro (the first baron in precedence of the realm). The compound was regularly used as a residence by kings and by legates of the pope. The Temple also served as an early safety-deposit bank, sometimes in defiance of the Crown's attempts to seize the funds of nobles who had entrusted their wealth there.

After the destruction and abolition of the Knights Templar in 1307, King Edward II took control of the church as a Crown possession. It was later given to the Knights Hospitaller, who leased the Temple to two colleges of lawyers. One college moved into the part of the Temple previously used by the Knights, and the other into the part previously used by its clergy, and both shared the use of the church. The colleges evolved into the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple, two of the four London Inns of Court.

One of the most interesting aspects inside the Temple Church are the nine life-sized marble knightly effigies that lie in the old round church. A tenth sarcophagus has a carved lid. These were believed to be tombs until the post-WWII restoration revealed no bodies, but only effigy memorials. All the knights are on their back, with their eyes open, around the age of 30, but are otherwise positioned in different ways: some have their legs extended straight out while others have their legs crossed; some wear tunics over their armor and others wear full-length robes; some clutch their swords, some pray, and some have their arms straight at their sides. Of the nine Knight effigies, five have been identified: Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke Robert de Roos, 4th Baron of Hamlake William Marshall, 2nd Earl of Pembroke Gilbert Marshall, 4th Earl of Pembroke

Sir Hugh de Morwick, III
Sir Hugh De Morwick was born ca. 1224 in Morwick, Northumberland. Morwick, or Morrick, is a township in Warkworth parish, Northumberland, on the River Coquet, near the coast, 2 miles Southwest of Warkworth.

Warkworth is a place of great antiquity, and during the heptarchy was of considerable importance: a church was founded there in 736, by Ceolwulph, King of Northumbria, who is supposed to have granted the monks of Lindisfarne Priory a charter of incorporation, under the provisions of which the town still retains the privileges of a borough by prescription. In 1174, William the Lion, King of Scotland, taking up his headquarters there, sent Earl Duncan, who commanded his army, to lay waste the adjacent country; and on the same day that William was defeated and taken prisoner at Alnwick, the earl, entering the town of Warkworth with his soldiers, set fire to it, and massacred the inhabitants without distinction of age or sex.

The 8th-century timber church was probably destroyed in the Viking raids that damaged Lindisfarne itself in the 9th century. The timber church was rebuilt in stone, but no trace of that first stone church remains. We do know that its altar stood beneath the present chancel arch. It was replaced by the present stone building in 1132, around the same time as Warkworth Castle was begun on the hill above. The church was intended not only as a place of worship but as a place of refuge in times of war. The nave is narrow and high, with extremely thick walls and slit windows, reminiscent of military construction. Near the south door is a medieval knight's effigy resting on a 17th-century table tomb. The effigy shows the knight in a traditional cross-legged pose with his feet resting on a carved lion. The inscription indicates that this is Sir Hugh de Marwick, English Crusader and Templar.